“Bell Helicopter demonstrated the heightened capability and customer-driven enhancements of the popular Bell 407 platform during the tour through Nepal,” said Sameer A. Rehman, managing director, Asia Pacific. “Throughout the demo tour, our customers praised the performance capabilities of the Bell 407GXP – noting its smooth ride, maneuverability, and increased performance at high altitudes. Proving this incredible helicopter’s capability in the Himalayan mountain range was a true testament to the Bell 407GXP’s game-changing performance in the highest terrain on the planet.”

Bell Helicopter introduced the latest variant of the popular Bell 407 platform at Heli-Expo 2015 in March, with great customer interest. The new aircraft incorporates the reliability and advanced technology of the Bell 407GX platform, and introduces performance enhancements, payload increase and pilot workload reduction.

Bell Helicopter’s pilot began demonstration flights in Kathmandu, Nepal and into Mount Everest Base Camp area. While there, the Bell 407GXP successfully climbed to an altitude of 20,000 feet. The demonstration flight was executed from Lukla airfield, and demonstrated several landings from 13,500 to 19,600 ft. near the Everest Base Camp.

“I was incredibly pleased with the performance of the aircraft and to demonstrate the increased power, performance and economics of the new M250 Rolls-Royce engine, producing 862 horsepower,” said Bell Helicopter demonstration pilot Will Williamson. “The aircraft performed extremely well, and I was able to demonstrate the aircraft’s ability to land at base camp and pick up passengers for potential recoveries back down the mountain.”

Derived from the Bell 407GX platform, the Bell 407GXP has an additional 50 lbs (22.5 kg) of payload capability, coupled with the new M250 Rolls-Royce engine that improves performance and fuel efficiency delivering class leading hot and high performance. The aircraft is also equipped with new avionics features such as a hover performance calculator improvement, as well as a transmission TBO extension of +500 hours that is expected to lower maintenance costs.

About Bell Helicopter: Bell Helicopter, a wholly owned subsidiary of Textron Inc., is an industry-leading producer of commercial and military, manned and unmanned vertical-lift aircraft and the pioneer of the revolutionary tiltrotor aircraft. Globally recognized for world-class customer service, innovation and superior quality, Bell's global workforce serves customers flying Bell aircraft in more than 120 countries.